This invention relates to pressure-sensitive recording sheets, and more specifically, to a color-developing sheet for pressure-sensitive recording sheets which contains a novel color developing agent.
Pressure-sensitive recording sheets are also known as carbonless copying paper. They produce a color upon the application of a mechanical or impact pressure by writing or by pounding a typewriter, thus permitting duplication of several copies simultaneously. The color is based on a color forming reaction between an electron-donating colorless dye and an electron-accepting color developer.
The structure of a pressure-sensitive recording sheet and the mechanism of color formation are illustrated generally with reference to the accompanying drawing. The back surface of each of a top (CB: Coated Back) sheet 1 and a middle (CFB: Coated Front and Back) sheet 2 is coated with microcapsules 4 having a diameter of several microns to ten and several microns and composed of a shell of a polymeric film such as gelatin and a solution of a colorless color-forming pressure-sensitive dye in an involatile oil enclosed therein. The surface of each of the middle (CFB) sheet 2 and the bottom (CF: Coated Front) sheet 3 is coated with a layer 5 containing a color developing agent having the property of reacting with the colorless dye upon contact therewith and thus producing a color. A sheet coated with a coating composition containing a color developer, such as the CFB sheet and the CF sheet, is called a color-developing sheet. When a localized pressure is applied by a writing instrument 6 (or a typewriter or the like) to a pressure-sensitive recording sheet composed of a multiply structure of the CB sheet 1, CFB sheet 2 and CF sheet 3 so that the microcapsule-coated surface faces the surface coated with the color developer-containing layer 5, the microcapsules 4 under the applied pressure break and the solution of the colorless dye moves to the color developer-containing layer 5. Thus, the dye reacts with the color developer to form a colored image 7 in the desired pattern of recording. In the pressure-sensitive recording sheet illustrated in the drawing, only one CFB sheet is interposed between the CB sheet 1 and the CF sheet 3, but if desired, two or more CFB sheets may be interposed.
Conventionally known electron-accepting color developing agents include (1) inorganic solid acids such as acid clay (Fuller's earth) or attapulgite, (2) substituted phenols and diphenols, (3) p-substituted phenol formaldehyde polymers, and (4) metal salts of aromatic carboxylic acids. These color-developing agents, however, are not entirely satisfactory. For example, the inorganic solid acids adsorb gases or moisture in the air and cause yellowing of the sheet or are deteriorated in color-forming property. With the substituted phenols and diphenols, the ultimate density of color is insufficient. The p-substituted phenol formaldehyde polymers (for example, p-phenyl phenol novolak resin) have superior color-forming properties, but have the defect that the coated sheet undergoes yellowing upon exposure to sunlight. The aromatic carboxylic acid metal salts are superior in color-forming ability, light fastness of the colored image and resistance to yellowing under light, but their water resistance and plasticizer resistance are not entirely satisfactory.